About

S.E.C. Education Foundation Mission Statement

“The mission of the Education Foundation of the Society of Exchange Counselors is to establish a fund to encourage and financially support education programs related to real estate, particularly in the area of creative transactions and professionally structured equity marketing techniques.”

The S.E.C. Education Foundation

The S.E.C. Education Foundation was established in 2002 to preserve the fundamental principles of the Society of Exchange Counselors.

The Foundation will joint venture a course and guarantee instructor fees to assist real estate or marketing groups as part of their mission to provide quality education.

The Society has experienced moderators who are willing to assist your Chapter or marketing group to create a professional and productive marketing session. The Ed Foundation will share the risk and guarantee to cover the expenses of our moderators.

Contact the S.E.C. Office for information and an application if you are interested in hosting an education program; or if you would like to arrange for a moderator to assist you with a marketing session.

The Society of Exchange Counselors

In the 1950’s, Realtor Richard R. Reno of San Diego, California, observed that people exchanging real estate could solve many of the real estate problems existing in San Diego’s overbuilt market. He saw exchanging as an alternative to the unavailable cash buyer. He believed that people who owned real estate did not necessarily want to totally divest themselves of real estate ownership, but were uncomfortable in the circumstances surrounding their current ownership. In effect, the problem was not with the property, but with the people who owned it. He went on to hypothesize that there was no bad real estate, only inappropriate or untimely ownership. With the appropriate owner in title to the real estate, there was no problem.

This hypothesis of Mr. Reno led to the idea that the most effective way to deal with real estate was to abandon the traditional approach of focusing entirely on the property, the “brick and mortar,” and incorporate into the process the circumstances surrounding the ownership of the property. He recognized that the reason(s) an owner wanted to sell, and what the owner would do with the cash, if it were obtainable, was the key to successful transactions.

Two basic axioms evolved:

Working with people is more important than working with property. Properties do not have problems, people do.

Client management, the ability to deliver, stems from the relationship between the client and the broker. The underlying premise is that the client’s best interests are paramount.

In November, 1961, nineteen Realtors met with the common goal of forming a national organization composed of individuals who were committed to practicing creative real estate and counseling. This was the first meeting of the Society of Exchange Counselors and has since become a prototype for most marketing groups internationally. Since its inception, the Society has been the industry leader in innovative education and educators.